Steak Buenos Aires: Chicken, it’s not usually what’s for dinner.

 

So it’s been awhile since we’ve talked about pollo a la parrilla (chicken on the grill). I know, I know, it’s seemingly sacrilege. We’re Steaks by Luis! We do beef! Why bother with chicken?! Well believe it or not there are some people here in Argentina that eat chicken, sometimes. Don’t get me wrong, steak is the staple but that doesn’t mean we can’t get creative from time to time and mix it up. But what’s the best way to go about chicken on the grill? How can you still have a classically Argentine asado but include this poultry asado poser? My suggestion would be to slap a entire chicken on the grill.

When preparing a whole chicken to put on the grill there are several ways you can cut it. After removing the innards you can cut it lengthwise along the sternum or you can cut it a la rana which mean ‘frog style‘. This with this method the leaves the entire breast in tact sort of jaw-like in cut. While the first mentioned method is a bit more traditional and has been tested numerous times the second ‘frog style’ cut is good because it places the chicken flatter on the grill. All in all as long as you make sure that the chicken is entirely cooked through there’s no greatly noticeable difference between the two.

As for preparation, as long as the chicken comes fully plucked and gutted there’s not much else to do besides adding salt, just like most other Argentine meat preparations. If you’re trying to get a bit more fancy with it you can add something a little bit more herbacious like rosemary or thyme into the cavity of the chicken in order to take it to the next level. Of course, in true Argentinian way, you want the chicken to taste like chicken not like it’s got some fanciful fruit glaze on it; that just won’t do.

The chicken should go bone down first because it will take the longest time to heat up and once hot it will help cook the chicken from the inside out. Chicken unlike a t-bone steak however, is a bit more complicated. First off, as I’m sure we’re all aware, unless you want to poison your guests with salmonella you’ll need to make sure the chicken is thoroughly cooked all the way through. This can cause a bit of a timing issue as chicken takes longer to cook than say a steak. To coincide with our Argentine asado timing schedule it would ideally go on just after or right along with the morcilla and choripan.

 

 

Argentina Steak: Chicken on the Grill

When planning my asados I occasionally have to plan around the fact that even in Argentina, there are some people who don’t fall over themselves for an opportunity to have some beef off the grill. They aren’t vegetarian, they do like the rituals and ceremony behind the asado, but they might make a face when you ask them if they prefer tira de asado or vacio or colita de cuadril. That face suggests that they want something else. These are the people that when offered coffee ask if you have tea instead. So what to do with these people? In this situation, the best option is to grill up a whole chicken. Chicken on the grill, when done right, is amazing and will please not only the finicky eaters but everyone else at the table.

Naturally, the first step is to find a whole chicken at your kindly local butcher. Once you clarify that you want your chicken for grilling and all the gizzards have been removed, you will be offered to have it cut in one of two ways.  The first option is to cut it lengthwise along the sternum so that the chicken is opened up ventrally, and the second approach is to cut it a la rana (as a frog), where the breast is left intact and instead the chicken is cut along the cavity, so that the breast can be lifted upwards, much like a jaw opening and closing. See the first minute or so of the video below for a demonstration. This step can also be done at home if you are comfortable chopping up chickens and you have a good sharp knife.

Chicken cut ventrally

The first approach is the more traditional and is tried and tested. Cutting it rana­-style is beneficial because not only is the breast intact but the chicken lies a bit flatter against the grill. Either method is fine, really. My butcher will often make some notches in the bone in the drumsticks. No idea what that is about, but it certainly doesn’t make the chicken worse. Depending on where you get your chickens from, there might be tiny feathers still stuck in the skin. Take those out.

Much like everything else on the Argentine grill, the only real preparation is the addition of the sal entrefina. Adding herbs like rosemary in the cavity works well, so feel free to add any herbs that you like. But the idea is that the chicken taste mostly like chicken, along with the smoke of the embers.

Just as with the beef cuts that are bone-in, the chicken goes bone down first over the grill. Chicken, when compared to beef, is quite a bit more complicated. Not only must it be served cooked all the way through, it’s no fun if the meat is dry. Furthermore, for reasons unknown, chicken meat also cooks more slowly than beef, and doesn’t respond well at all to being rushed. Hence the complications. When I do chicken on the grill, I put it on soon after the chorizos and morcilla, and give it medium-low heat endlessly until the skin is a very golden brown, which is at least 30 minutes typically and then flip it and continue with the same level of heat. When in doubt with chicken, give it a bit more time at medium heat. The key is getting the bones hot and cooking the meat but without burning the skin and drying the meat out. It’s tricky. I remember one time I managed to get the juices in the drumstick to simmer visibly underneath the skin. That’s the kind of heat that you want.

Often the chicken will begin to disintegrate at the joints before being served. That’s a good sign, but not a guarantee that everything has been cooked all the way through. Experience and judgment will tell you when the chicken is ready. Naturally, the most difficult part is to get the chicken ready at the same time as the all the other mains that are being served that night. Because otherwise you can expect glares from the finicky eaters wondering where their special meal is.

The best part about chicken on the grill is that the day after the meat tastes even better and it makes for awesome sandwich filling. In the end, it isn’t so bad to have difficult guests because chicken on the grill is actually pretty special. Just make sure the finicky eaters leave you some!